As I'm Leaving
by Rob5
Summary: Carter goes to work at Mercy. Leaving behind a friend in need. Be warned this is a Carby fic. Please R/R!
1. Connection

Title: As I'm Leaving  
Author: Rob - fatabbot@btinternet.com  
Archive: Not without permission please  
Category: Carter/Abby  
Rating: PG  
Spoilers: All of season 7  
Author's notes: Unsure where this is going to go as yet. So bear with me ;)  
Disclaimer: I don't own em so don't sue me please :)  
Summary: Carter decides to leave County. But not before one difficult trauma with Abby.  
  
  
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Chapter 1 - Connection  
  
John Carter walked into Cook County General with his mind made up. There was nothing left for him there. If he was going to get anywhere in his life he would have to move on. Leaving this place would be like losing a limb but he had to do it. He had grown strangely fond of the hospital. Being there for as long as he had, seeing people come and go; staff as well as patients. He found it somewhat hard to believe that he would be joining those people who walk out of the ER doors and never come back.  
  
"Shut up John," he said out loud to himself. He would have to try his hardest not to get nostalgic, as he knew that a small part of him would always belong at County, and would remain there after he left. Nothing he could do except get on with his life, wherever he ended up....  
  
"What's that Carter?" Dave Malucci said appearing out of the corner of the lounge, "did you say something?"  
  
"Oh, don't worry Dave I was just mumbling to myself," he replied. He would probably, even though he wouldn't admit it, miss Malucci, the relentless, woman chasing, prankster, even though his superiors would love to see the back of him. Not to mention Deb, who bore the brunt of his flirtatious behaviour.   
  
"You can freak me out Carter you know that?"  
  
"Well I do try Dave," Carter replied as he walked back out into the ER. It was now or never. He could hear Kerry Weaver barking out orders from what seemed like miles away. He quickly found her working on a patient with Mark Greene. "Dr. Weaver I need to..."  
  
"Save it Carter, we have a multiple trauma coming in, ETA five minutes I want you to take the next one that comes in, Abby and Cleo will help you."  
  
"Dr. Weaver I..."  
  
"Move it Carter!"  
  
Great, ten minutes of his shift left and now he wouldn't be able to get away for at least another hour. As much as he respected (and hated) Kerry Weaver, he couldn't help but feel like she had driven him away. When she returned his application for Chief Resident it made him realise that if he wanted to further his career he would have to do it someplace else. So that's what he would have to do. He didn't care where he went as long as they didn't judge him like Weaver did. She automatically assumed that he wouldn't be able to handle the extra work that the Chief Resident position would heap upon him because of his previous addiction. Although he could understand her concern he thought that she could have at least discussed it with him before she made her decision. He thought he could handle the pressure, she obviously disagreed and he wasn't about to try and convince her. It was apparent to him that Kerry still saw John Carter recovering addict and not John Carter Medical Doctor when she looked at him, and nothing was going to change her perspective.  
  
And now he had to work with Abby.  
  
Stepping out into the ambulance bay he looked across to see her standing alone, with her arms wrapped around herself, smoking a cigarette. She looked up at him and the two of them exchanged awkward glances before he smiled to try and break the ice. She half-smiled back at him then stared out into the nothingness again. He hated this, he hated what he had created between them. He missed her so much. She had been avoiding him ever since he told her that he had feelings for her, not that he could blame her. When he was on a break or lunch he would go to the places they used to spend time together subconsciously hoping to bump into her. The roof, the bench by the lake, even over at doc's but she was nowhere to be found at their regular haunts. He wanted to see her, to tell her he didn't mean what he said, that without her in his life as his best friend he was struggling to function properly. But he hadn't, and he was going to leave her behind because he had to forget her. He had to forget her and what they had because they weren't going to get it back. If she wanted his friendship she would have said something by now.  
  
His thoughts were dispersed by the sound of sirens drawing ever closer.  
  
"Here we go," he said not looking at Abby, knowing that it wouldn't draw a look from her. Cleo rushed out to join them as the ambulance pulled up. Doris jumped out dragging behind her a young girl bloodied and battered lying on a gurney. "What have we got?"  
  
"Melissa Stevens, 9 years old, two broken legs, minor lacerations to head, chest and arms, complains of right sided chest pain." Doris rattled off as she eased the girl out of the ambulance bay and into the hospital.  
  
"What happened?" Cleo asked, running alongside the gurney.  
  
"RTA, she and her dad were hit by a car coming the other way. The guy was DOA, and her dad isn't looking so good."  
  
"Melissa? Melissa can you hear me?" Carter raised his voice a little.  
  
"Where's my dad?" The young girl replied, she was terrified.  
  
"I'm Doctor Carter Melissa I'm here to help you get better. Can you tell us what happened?"  
  
"We were in a car accident," Melissa replied, "where's my dad?"  
  
"He's in the other trauma room with some other doctors Melissa," Abby answered, "they're going to take good care of him."  
  
"Daddy!" Melissa called out, "I want my Daddy!" Cleo and Abby called out various soothing tones as Carter worked frantically to help Melissa.  
  
"Melissa can you tell me where it hurts?"  
  
"My chest... my chest hurts a lot."  
  
"OK honey Dr. Carter will give you something for the pain." Abby said, gently stroking the girl's face.  
  
Thankfully Melissa wasn't too seriously hurt, but as Cleo got called away to help with the father Carter and Abby worked furiously to limit the extent of her injuries. When she was stable Carter went through to tend to Melissa's dad.  
  
Kerry eventually threw down the paddles and looked up at the clock, "time of death 19:56." Four ER doctors were working on him but they couldn't save him, Carter felt like a fraud.  
  
"Someone's going to have to talk to the daughter," Cleo said sombrely.  
  
"I'll do it," Carter said and turned to find Melissa.  
  
He walked into an exam room to find Abby suturing a cut on Melissa's head. He stood silently and watched noting how beautiful Abby looked, even though she had just worked a double shift. He saw her laugh and joke with Melissa, and he hated himself for what he was about to do.  
  
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" he said as he walked further into the room. Abby and Melissa looked up at him with huge smiles on their faces, he felt the corners of his mouth turn upward but were forced back down by the fact that in less than a minute Melissa would be crying. He always hated this part.  
  
"Abby was telling me a funny story," Melissa said, she let out a little giggle. Carter half-smiled again, and he hated himself again.  
  
"Was she? Well we've got something else to talk about now." He looked up at Abby, and he noticed the expression on her face. She had read him, like she always did, she read him like a book and knew exactly what he was about to say. She got up to leave but again she saw the look Carter had on his face and sat down, putting her arm around Melissa's shoulders.  
  
"Is it about my Daddy?" Carter's heart was breaking.  
  
"Yes, Melissa I'm afraid it is. After I finished working on you I went over to help with your dad. His injuries were very severe. We all worked really hard to try and save him but after a little while his heart stopped beating. We carried on trying to get him to wake up but..." Melissa looked down at the floor, "Melissa I'm sorry but your father died." At that Melissa started to sob quietly, until she gave up trying to be brave. She flopped into Carter's arms and cried into his chest.  
  
"I want my mommy!" she said, the sound of her voice muffled by Carter's shirt. He looked up at Abby and they stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Melissa let go of Carter and held out her arms for Abby. She held her gently and whispered into her head.  
  
"It's ok honey, it's ok." Carter and Abby shared a look again before Kerry slowly walked into the room.  
  
"Dr. Carter, you wanted to talk to me?" Kerry turned without waiting for a response. Carter leaned forward and whispered a thankyou into Abby's ear before getting up to leave. He turned around before he left to see Melissa crying into Abby's shoulder. Abby simply nodded at him and smiled softly. Carter left to talk to Kerry.  
  



	2. Say Hello Wave Goodbye

  
Summary: Carter talks to Kerry about leaving and goes for an interview at Mercy  
  
  
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Chapter 2 - Say Hello Wave Goodbye  
  
Carter stepped through the door to Kerry's office to find her sitting at her desk looking up at him with a blank expression.  
  
"Is this important Carter?"  
  
He hesitated for a moment before beginning, "Well yes Dr. Weaver its very important. As you know my residency is due to end in a few months. After thinking about it long and hard I've decided to move on."  
  
Kerry's face was still blank, "move on?"  
  
Carter frowned slightly, "what I mean is I've decided to leave County," he looked up briefly, her expression had changed, but he still could not read it. "I think its best if I get a fresh start as an attending at a new hospital."  
  
Kerry shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. After a long pause she finally spoke, "have you thought this through?"  
  
"Well it's been in my head for a while, and I've made a few enquiries at some hospitals, taken a look around a few... So yeah, I think it's pretty safe to say I've thought long and hard about it."  
  
"Well, I have to say we'll all be sad to see you go... but if that's what you want to do then I'm not going to stand in your way."  
  
"Thanks a lot Dr. Weaver," he stopped for a while before adding, "I'd just like to thank you for all your support over the last few years. You've helped me a lot in my career Kerry."  
  
"Thankyou John, you've been a pleasure to work with," Kerry said as she got up, indicating that their conversation was over.  
  
"Oh Dr. Weaver?"  
  
"Yes Carter?"  
  
"Could you not tell anyone about this. I want to keep my leaving very low key. I don't see why anyone should make a fuss about it."  
  
"OK sure. Sure that's no problem."  
  
Carter walked out of Kerry's office feeling overly satisfied. The hardest part was over. Now he could pick a hospital out of the ones he liked the look of and then get the hell out of there.  
  
He couldn't wait to get home now. After making a quick run through the patients he had seen earlier in the day he walked quickly towards the doctors lounge to get his things, so he could get home and start making phone calls. Pushing through the door, he stopped for some reason to take in his surroundings. It took him a while to notice Abby sprawled out on the sofa. She didn't notice him, and he tried to be as silent as he could while getting his bag and coat. She looked exhausted...  
  
"Hey John," she said without looking up. Deb used to be the only one who called him by his first name. He always expected that it was a little dig because he called her by her old name but he didn't complain about it. To everyone else he was 'Carter' and to hear his first name used occasionally was a refreshing change. Abby had recently started to call him John and it just stuck really well. He couldn't explain why, it just did. They had been such good friends it seemed like a natural transition.  
  
"Hey," he said, again not looking at her from beyond his locker. He slowly peeked around the side to see her looking at him, she was searching for a connection.  
  
"Tough break about the little girl huh?"  
  
"Tell me about it. Poor thing," they both nodded.  
  
"What did you talk to Weaver about?"  
  
"So you're talking to me today?" he hadn't meant to say it but it just slipped out. Some days she would seek him out, other days she wouldn't dare speak to him. It didn't matter that he said it, she ignored it anyway. "I was just trying to sort out what happens when my residency finishes."  
  
"So you're staying here then?"  
  
"I don't know, I guess we'll just have to wait and see."  
  
"Are you off now?" She said somewhat hesitantly.  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"Do you want to go get some coffee at doc's?"  
  
Carter looked up at her and she was plain faced. He really did want to go but he couldn't, he had to get his future sorted out. He knew Abby would see it as him discontinuing their friendship but there wasn't much he could do about it. "Hey I'd really love to..."  
  
"But..."  
  
"I have a lot of things to take care of about my attending position so I really have to get home." He saw her look down at her hands.  
  
"Oh... ok that's fine."  
  
"Night Abby."  
  
"Night John."  
  
By the next morning he had narrowed it down to a handful of hospitals and made a few appointments over the next couple of days. As much as he hated to say it, Mercy looked like his best bet. He hadn't planned on staying in Chicago but if Mercy was the best place for him to go to then that's where he would go. He was meeting with their chief of staff later on that day. It would be the ultimate insult to County if he went to the hospital that was closest to them, maybe that's why a small part of him had already decided that this was first choice outright.  
  
He walked through the doors of Mercy's ER and was almost taken aback by how similar it was to County. If you put in Randi at the front desk, Haleh and Lydia walking around the curtain areas stirring up gossip, and Dave hiding in some little corner it would be County revisited...  
  
"Excuse me Sir can I help you?" A pretty young girl at the front desk got his attention.  
  
"Oh erm sure... yes Dr. Carter here to see..." he stopped to look at a piece of paper he had scrawled a name on last night, "Dr... West."  
  
"Dr. West is busy at the moment Dr. Carter, if you'll just take a seat in chairs he'll get to you as soon as he can."  
  
"OK, thanks very much," Carter said as he turned towards the waiting area.  
  
"No problem," the girl smiled widely and he could've sworn he saw her wink at him but he must have imagined it.  
  
After what seemed like an eternity a short, skinny man approached him and held out his hand. "Dr. Carter I presume?" Carter nodded, "Hi I'm Dr. West."  
  
"It's nice to meet you Sir."  
  
"Shall we make our way to my office?" Carter followed him to a moderately sized room, most of the space taken up by various pieces of paperwork. He looked around... this was a lot less organised than Kerry's office... "Take a seat please Dr. Carter. Sorry about the mess."  
  
The interview went as well as it could've done. The usual questions were asked and Carter made the effort to think of an original answer rather than the usual clichés. He made Dr. West laugh, and he was nodding an awful lot. So it seemed like a good interview. Dr. West was also scrawling furiously at a notepad, which he had rested on his leg.  
  
"Well, everything seems to be in order here Dr. Carter," Dr. West stood up and Carter did likewise. I'm very impressed with your résumé. He held out his hand and Carter shook it again, "we'll let you know in a few days ok Dr. Carter?"  
  
Carter simply nodded and said, "OK that's fine. Thankyou Sir," he turned and walked out. He made his way out of the building, not before taking one last look at the admin desk to see if the clerk was looking at him. Walking out into the sunlight he had a good feeling that this was where he would be working in the near future.  
  
  



	3. Lost And Lonely

  
Summary: Three months after Carter has left, Abby is all alone.  
  
  
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Chapter 3 - Lost And Lonely  
  
Strange how things can fall apart so quickly. She thought she had her life in control. She thought she had everything she wanted and needed in her life for perhaps the first time. Then all of a sudden in what seemed like seconds it was all taken away from her and she was back where she started a year ago. And she knew exactly where the downward slump began.  
  
"I don't want to be your friend..."  
  
She had lost her best friend. She had lost the only person she could really talk to. She had lost the one person she had come across who knew what it was like to be an addict. She had lost her way back into the world of the friendly.  
  
And then things got worse...  
  
.........  
  
Kerry Weaver assembled the staff of County at the admin desk and just came out with it. Rattled it off as if it was part of the day's agenda. "I'm afraid to say that we've have lost a member of staff. Dr. Carter has decided that it would be better for him to move to another hospital and that is why he hasn't been in for the last couple of days." Noting the shocked faces she added, "he wanted to keep his leaving low-key. He didn't want to make a fuss about it. Just thought I should let you all know."  
  
"Who woulda thought that huh?" Dave said aloud as he walked off to his patient.  
  
For a while she just stood there trying to take it in. John had left her. She couldn't believe it. Carter was the perfect friend to Abby, he was always there to say the right thing or do the right thing to make her feel better or take the weight off her shoulders, right from when she was at the ER as a med.-student. He was her emotional rock, she would go to him when she had a problem or felt 'a little off' because she knew that he would be there to just listen to what she had to say, which would make her feel better having got it off her chest.  
  
And now he was gone...  
  
.........  
  
She couldn't help but feel incomplete afterwards. She wandered around the ER looking lost, like she didn't know where she was or why she was there. People would call out her name but she wouldn't hear them. Setting up an IV or suturing without knowledge of anything around her.  
  
She should have done the honest thing, she should have gone to the one person left at County who actually cared about her. Instead she closed herself up, she wouldn't say anything to anyone in the hope that her mood would brighten on its own without a little joke or compliment from John Carter.  
  
And then Luka left her...  
  
She was stunned when he did it. In fact, stunned wasn't the word to sum up how she felt when he sat her down that night...  
  
.......  
  
"Abby?" Luka said as he stood in the doorway.  
  
She didn't turn to look at him, instead she kept her eyes glued to the infomercial that had been repeating for the last 2 hours. She knew exactly what it did, she still didn't want to buy it. She grunted a response, "mmm?"  
  
"Can I talk to you for a second?"  
  
Now he had her attention. She turned around suddenly and looked at him. The fear was obvious on her face, whenever anyone said something like that it was always bad. "Erm... sure." She got up and walked over to the table he was sitting at, looking down at his hands clasped tightly together. "I'm really sorry I didn't wait for you. It must've slipped my mind or someth..."  
  
"No Abby this isn't about that," he said, deadly serious. She looked up at him, right into his eyes. For the first time in a long time she was scared. "I think we shouldn't see each other anymore." There it was, she knew he was going to say it. She had been waiting for the last two months for him to say it. She felt like she was powerless. Instead of trying to make things better, she only made them worse. "I think we've been going downhill for awhile," Abby nodded in agreement, "ever since Carter left you've been detached. I've tried to help you, I know he was a good friend to you and it must have been hard for you to see him go, but you seem so disconnected. We never talk at all anymore..."  
  
"Luka stop," she said quietly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I know... I know, you're right. It's all my fault. I should have tried to make it work but I... I... just..."  
  
"It's ok Abby," he said as he held her close. He felt her sob faintly into his chest, "It's nobody's fault. Sometimes you just have to accept that things don't always work out the way you hoped they would." Abby nodded as she stood up.  
  
"So I guess this is it huh?"  
  
Luka smiled softly, "yeah I guess it is." He held out his arms and she hugged him before wiping away a few stray tears. "Goodnight Abby."  
  
"Goodnight."  
  
.........  
  
He was so great about it. She couldn't blame him for breaking up with her. If she was him she would have broken up too. Everything he did was so perfect, the way he let her down gently, the way he told her what she knew was the absolute truth, and the way he was friendly to her at work the next day.  
  
Luka wasn't the ideal boyfriend, heck he wasn't even close, but she had a nice stable relationship that was in sharp contrast to her marriage to Richard. With him every week was the end. They would fight because he flirted with another woman in front of her, or because she was drunk and just felt like picking a fight, and sometimes they just argued for no reason. That was one of the few things that worked in her marriage, they could argue over everything. So every few days or so she would phone her brother or, if she had been drinking, her mother to tell them that she and Richard had finished and that yes it was for real this time. She was surprised it lasted as long as it did. Maybe the same could apply to Luka. It had lasted almost a year, Luka had put up with her ignoring him, snapping at him and running off to Carter every five minutes for half that time. How it lasted a year was beyond her. But she knew that she was to blame.  
  
So here she was, sitting alone in her apartment with a big bucket of chocolate ice cream watching re-runs of Days Of Our Lives. Just waiting for her next shift so she could try, and fail, to forget that the life she had come to love had simply crumbled around her.  
  
  



	4. Getting To Know You

  
Summary: 3 months into his new job, Carter is having trouble settling in. He makes a new friend and get a call from an old one.  
  
  
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Chapter 4 - Getting To Know You  
  
Walking quickly out of the doors of Mercy's ER, so he wouldn't get tagged onto an incoming trauma, Carter breathed a heavy sigh of relief that his shift was over. It wasn't particularly difficult or traumatising. It was just that working at Mercy was so dull. There was no excitement in the job, partly because they seemed to send virtually all the traumas to County, and mostly because there was no comradeship within the hospital. At County there were groups of friends, staff going into relationships with each other, and the whole ER team just seemed to be able to laugh and joke and relax together with ease. Not here.  
  
Everyone seemed so detached at Mercy. They kept work and life apart, which wasn't a bad thing, but it just didn't sit right with Carter. The only sign of some friendship was that two doctors were dating. Speaking of which...  
  
"Dr. Carter!" Dr. Ellen Davis called out. He turned and she jogged over to him. "Hi," she said, somewhat awkwardly.  
  
"Hi Dr. Dav..."  
  
"Ellen" she said quickly.  
  
"Oh ok. Hi Ellen," he said while smiling.  
  
"Are you off now?"  
  
"Yeah I am. Just off to grab some coffee."  
  
"Is it ok if I join you?"  
  
Carter looked over at the ambulance bay and spotted Ellen's boyfriend giving him perhaps the most evil scowl he had ever seen. He leant in closer to Ellen and said quietly, "I don't think you boyfriend would approve," without taking his eyes of the man. He couldn't remember his name.  
  
"Oh don't worry about him, he gets jealous easy," she replied and smiled again. "So where are you going?"  
  
"Oh just a small diner I found last week," he said as they started to walk. He was very glad to find a place he could go to on his breaks. It was startlingly similar to Doc's, but it was annoyingly further away. They did do better coffee though.  
  
They walked into the diner and found an empty booth to sit in. Carter ordered them two coffees and they sat in silence for a few moments.  
  
Finally Ellen spoke up, "so... have you been settling in ok?"  
  
Carter put down his cup, "yeah pretty good I guess."  
  
"But..."  
  
"Well this place doesn't seem to be very lively compared to County."  
  
"Well give it time, you grow to love it."  
  
"Oh don't worry I'm sure I'll fit in," he said finishing his coffee, he slowly rose up to leave, "well I'd better..."  
  
"Why don't you have another?" Ellen asked. He sat back down again and looked at her. He thought for a few moments, "yeah sure ok," he saw her smile at this.  
  
"This one's on me."  
  
They spent the next hour in the diner drinking coffee and talking. Carter was actually relived that someone had gone out of their way to be nice to him and get to know him a little better. As he finished his fourth cup he stood up quickly, "well this was great but I have to be getting home now."  
  
"We should do it again sometime."  
  
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," he thought it best to be honest.  
  
Ellen looked slightly hurt at this, "why?"  
  
"Well I don't want to get in anybody's bad books. It would be nice to have a friend here because everyone seems to be so distant from each other. But I wouldn't want to get in the way of you and your boyfriend." He thought about how this echoed his situation with Abby.  
  
After looking upset, Ellen slowly nodded and smiled. "Well I suppose you're right. Don't worry I'll talk to him."  
  
Carter smiled, "well we should do this again tomorrow then. As long as I won't get jumped or anything."  
  
Ellen laughed, "oh don't you worry about Clive. He wouldn't hurt a fly."  
  
"Well thanks again."  
  
"Yeah you too. Goodnight Dr. Carter."  
  
"Goodnight Dr. Davis." Carter walked out of the diner and sighed. He took another look back to see Ellen looking down at the table while the waitress billed her for the last two cups of coffee. There was the one friend he needed but it was so obvious that she wanted more than that. In some ways she was perfect for him but he just couldn't find himself attracted to her. He wasn't over Abby. The truth hit him hard. The thing he had tried to escape was following him wherever he went. There was nothing he could do about it.  
  
Driving back to his apartment he felt fatigue swoop over him. He thought it best to just get home and go straight to bed. He hadn't moved because he saw no point. His apartment was a little further away from Mercy than it was to County, but moving such a short distance would over-complicate things.  
  
He stepped slowly through the door and threw his keys onto the table. Grabbing a bottle of milk out of the fridge he sat in the dark and rubbed his eyes tentatively. "Look at what you've become John," he said to himself.  
  
Just as he was about to climb into bed the phone rang. "Who the hell could that be!" he cursed. It wasn't late at all but he always got annoyed if someone phoned him just as he was turning in. He picked up the phone and, purposely, sighed loudly. "Hello?"  
  
"Hello John," a woman's voice replied.  
  
"Who is this?"  
  
"I'm surprised you've forgotten us so easily," the voice said with a dry chuckle.  
  
"Deb? Deb! Wow it's so good to hear from you. How have you been," he was delighted that *they* hadn't forgotten *him* so easily.  
  
"Well I'd just thought I'd call to see how you were," she said, "how's life at Mercy?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Uh-Oh," Deb knew him too well.  
  
"Yeah," Carter laughed, "it has its shortcomings but I'm sure I'll grow to love it."  
  
"Compared to County?"  
  
"It's quiet but that's not a good thing."  
  
"Yeah we always get trauma's that Mercy has diverted. We were worried that you were being under-worked."  
  
"We?" Carter said hopefully.  
  
"Yeah, all of us. Everyone still talks about you and we all miss you."  
  
"Wow, thanks Deb that's good to hear. So did you make chief resident?"  
  
"Yep, but to tell you the truth it's a lot of hard work."  
  
"Having trouble coping huh?" Carter said, he couldn't resist a dig.  
  
"That's not what I said!" Deb retorted. "I'm handling it."  
  
"Liar," Carter said and he heard Deb laugh. "Hey listen how would you like to meet up tomorrow night. I get off at seven so we could go for some coffee or something. You know, catch up on old times."  
  
"Yeah that would be great. I'm working the night shift tomorrow so we'll have to go to Doc's. Is that ok?"  
  
"Yeah that's fine. I haven't been to Doc's since I left."  
  
"Ok I'll meet you there. Say half seven?"  
  
"That's fine. Ok then I'll see you tomorrow?"  
  
"I'll look forward to it."  
  
"Goodnight John."  
  
"Night Deb. Thanks for calling." He heard the familiar click and put the phone down. Climbing into bed he thought about how great it would be to see Deb again. Maybe he could go into the hospital to say hello. If Deb was telling the truth they would be happy to see him. Well most of them anyway.  
  
  
  



End file.
